CLINTON, N.Y. – In a rain soaked day in Western New York, the Wesleyan baseball team couldn't make up a 4-0 deficit as the Cardinals fell to Hamilton, 4-3, late Saturday afternoon from the Loop Road Complex. Wesleyan concludes its shortened spring season with a 5-7 record while the Continentals finish 2021 with an identical 5-7 mark on the season.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• After an uneventful first inning, Wesleyan put their first two runners on in the second as Ricky Finkel '23 walked and Cole Torino '24 reached on a throwing error with no one out. The threat, however, went by with no runs as Hamilton's starter Gavin Schaefer-Hood recorded three straight outs, two of which from strikeouts, to end the inning.
• Hamilton struck first in the bottom of the third as Matt McGoey smacked a leadoff double to left and came around to score on a Jay Schlaefer RBI triple. Wesleyan starter Coleton Reitan '22 escaped further damage on a great defensive play as Kyle Sylvester '22 caught a fly out in left and gunned down the Continental trying to tag from third as his throw to Jimmy Clifford '23 at the plate resulted in a Cardinal double play.
• Another golden chance came and went for Wesleyan in the fourth as Adam Geibel '22 hit a leadoff single, Finkel walked and Torino sacrificed both over on a bunt. Despite two runners in scoring position and just one out, Wesleyan was unable to plate any runs as Schaefer-Hood got Clifford on an inning-ending strikeout to leave three Cardinals on-base.
• Hamilton plated another run in the sixth and two in the seventh but it could have been much worse in both as Hamilton had the bases loaded with no one out in each frame. Jacob Han walked with the bases juiced to score the Hamilton run in the sixth but AJ Karabenick '24 entered in relief and finished the inning with a 6-4-3 double play ball.
• Wesleyan's big chance came in the eighth as Jack Nally '24 drew a leadoff walk, Matt Halas '24 was hit by a pitch and Ryan Molinari '22 walked to load the bases with no one out. Back-to-back sacrifice flies from Geibel and Finkley made it 4-2 Hamilton and Torino knocked an RBI single to right as the Cardinals trailed by just one but the inning came to an end on a fly out.

NOTES:

• Reitan threw well in his fifth start of the season, going 5.0 innings allowing just one run on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Reitan's 38 strikeouts in 24.0 innings led the Cardinals in 2021.
• Pat Clare '19, '21 finished the game on the mound as the sixth-year Cardinal's career came to an end with two innings in relief, allowing one run with one walk and four strikeouts. In his 25.2 innings (four starts, five total appearances in 2021), Clare tallied 34 strikeouts against just five walks for the season.
• Wesleyan managed just three hits in the nine-inning game as Molinari, Geibel and Torino accounted for those hits (all singles).
• Finkel drew two walks and hit a sacrifice fly for one RBI
• Nally drew one walk as the first-year reached base safely (via a hit or walk) in all 12 games this spring for Wesleyan in his debut season.
• Hamilton cranked out nine hits with Brady Slinger (2-for-4) the only one to record a multi-hit game
• Schaefer-Hood was tremendous in his start as he went 6.2 scoreless innings with just two hits allowed and six strikeouts
• Jack Clougherty staved off the Wesleyan rally attempt in the eighth and finished off the game with a clean ninth inning to record the save
• The two sides were scheduled to play two seven inning games as part of a doubleheader but rain and lightning forced a near three-hour deley which forced the teams into playing a single nine-inning game to end their respective seasons